


3 + 4 + Minus...?

by strawberryTala



Category: Devil May Cry
Genre: 3!Dante - Freeform, 4!Nero - Freeform, Established Relationship, Fluff, Humor, Kid!Vergil - Freeform, Light Angst, M/M, Shipping is light, Younger!V
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-16
Updated: 2020-03-16
Packaged: 2021-03-01 01:53:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,372
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23167285
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/strawberryTala/pseuds/strawberryTala
Summary: Nero’s seen some shit in his relatively short life. Looking past things involving his body, the list of weird demonic bull that had thrown itself at him couldn’t be counted with both his hands.A demon who could change your body to a different age, now that was something new.
Relationships: Nero/V (Devil May Cry)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 72





	3 + 4 + Minus...?

**Author's Note:**

> Well, first fic ever for Devil May Cry ;>.>
> 
> When the image for this came to me and I got so amused by it I had to write it. I hope the characterisation is okay, I'm honestly kinda nervous about posting this ;u; Hope it's still enjoyable!

* * *

Nero’s seen some shit in his relatively short life. Not all unpleasant, though most of it was, and at least three different ones involved his arm. Injuring it only for it to turn scaly and glowy, then having it fucking cut off, and to top it off, growing it back like some damn lizard.

Looking past things involving his body, the list of weird demonic bull that had thrown itself at him couldn’t be counted with both his hands.

A demon who could change your body to a different age, now that was something new.

Fingers, shorter than what he was used to, reach up to tug gently at his once again existing fringe, pulling him out of his thoughts. He looked next to him. And down.

V smiles, looking thoroughly amused. “I didn’t know you used to have long hair.”

“It’s not that long,” Nero protests, resisting the urge to wave the hand away. A part of him worried he might actually injure V as he was right now. If not break bones, then maybe bruise him blue and purple. Normally, he wouldn’t be this worried about it with normal-sized V.

This V, whose forearms were so thin Nero could have his thumb and pinky finger touch while wrapped around one of them, who looked like a strong gust of wind could bowl him off his feet, maybe even carry him away. Like a tiny Mary Poppins, with a cane that was now too big for him instead of an umbrella.

Despite this, V didn’t seem too bothered by it all.

“You’re taking being turned into a pre-teen surprisingly well.”

V hums, continuing running his fingers through the white strands, sitting on the couch next to Nero. He had a look on his face that said he was enjoying this way too much. “It’s a hassle having such short legs, but I got to see an interesting view, so I suppose it’s fine.”

Nero snorts to hide his embarrassment, knowing V was way too tickled over his nineteen-year-old self. Nero wished he could be as calm about this.

_‘Like some other people,’_ Nero thought, casting a look over to the other, older couch of the Devil May Cry office. More precisely, the two sat on it.

Dante wore what had to be the widest, giddiest grin Nero had ever seen on his face. His very _young_ face, with no stubble or lines around his eyes. Seriously, he looked almost _baby-faced_ and Nero wasn’t sure how to feel about that.

And sat on his lap, or more like held captured, was Vergil. A very, very tiny Vergil, who had that look in his eyes that could almost cut into you, but much less effective when placed on the face of a child. A child that was wearing a button-up and shorts, looking like a small rich boy.

Seeing his dad as a moving, real child was messing with him. It also made him want to bust a gut laughing, so he had to avoid looking at him for too long less his tiny wrath was turned onto him.

“Man Vergil, were you always this tiny?” Dante says in a lighter than normal voice, sounding like he was on the verge of laughter. Even so, his arms held an iron tight grip on his now smaller twin. “Coulda sworn we were always about the same size.”

Vergil almost snarls, stubby nails digging into Dante’s forearms as he tried to remove them and free himself from his lap. Alas, his eight-year-old self had no chance of even budging the older Sparda, despite his efforts. His teeth grit together in barely held back anger. “Dante, unhand me.”

Dante makes a show pretending to consider it, humming loudly in thought with his eyes closed and brow furrowed. Nero watches in mild fascination as veins seem to appear on Vergil’s forehead as he grows more and more irritated.

“Nah,” Dante flippantly says, resting his chin on top of Vergil’s head and hugging him tighter, smiling widely. “When am I gonna get the chance to annoy you like this ever again? This needs savouring.”

Vergil damn near hisses, legs kicking the air and hand pushing at Dante’s face in a vain attempt to make him move away. The young man only laughs at his actions.

Nero sighs. He can only see an inevitable fight in the future, one that he will probably have to break up, because that’s also his job around here. Devil Hunter? Nah, babysitter for his dad and uncle.

He glances over at V. Having no point in time to regress back to older than a year, his clothes hadn’t come with him. His bare feet just barely brushed the floor where he sat, one of his dark shirts pooling around him and going down to his knees, when usually it went to the middle of his thighs. Finding pants that fit him proved to be too much of a hassle, so he only had a pair of underwear underneath.

An image that would normally make him excited, promptly ruined by V’s current state.

“Why did you cut it?”

Nero startles, not realising that V had turned to look at him again when he was lost in thought. “What?”

V tugs gently at the white strands again. “Your hair. Why did you cut it short?”

There was no disappointment in his voice, nothing that said ‘I like it better like this’. Just genuine curiosity about the motivation behind it. Dante and Vergil are talking louder now, but neither Nero nor V pay them any attention.

“Looked in the mirror one day and thought ‘shit, I look like such a punk-ass kid’ and decided something needed to change,” Nero replies, shrugging one shoulder half-heartedly. He ran a hand through it, pushing back his fringe. “I mean, I _was_ at this age, I’ll admit that. But by then, I didn’t think it looked good anymore, so… off it went.”

V sits silently, absorbing his words and making Nero wonder if his answer really warranted that much thought. Then again, V had an amasing talent of overthinking things, especially anything and everything about his own existence. Nero was starting to wonder if part of his way to not think so much by himself was to ask things instead. Usually to Nero, who didn’t mind answering, but he felt he didn’t always have the right words. He tried, at least.

This time, it seems like he had succeeded with the answer, for V smiles. “I like it better short.” His expression gained a slightly teasing tilt, looking less alluring as it did on his adult self and more adorable and Nero had to resist the urge to pinch his cheeks. “Though getting to see this version of you is quite a treat.”

Nero grits his teeth as his face turn warm. V snickers quietly, so Nero does the mature thing and pulls his tinier boyfriend up against his side and ruffling up his black hair. V jumps, but doesn’t let out any sound(he rarely does, not in these innocent situations), frowning as his head wobbles along with Nero’s hand. His human hand, for he wasn’t entirely convinced the scales on his demon arm wouldn’t cut the soft skin open.

Once he’s done, V is looking sullenly up at him, hair so dishevelled Nero has to hold back laughter, something that doesn’t pass unnoticed. V frowns, looking like such a miffed child that Nero can’t hold back, turning away and leaning over to smoother his snickers into his hand.

“You don’t seem very bothered either,” V doesn’t sound as irritated as he might look. Nero feels him sit up as his arm loosen its hold around him

“S-sorry, sorry, it’s just- your face has _baby fat_ and-” Nero wheezes, trying to regain his composure.

Honestly, V didn’t look too different, like a smaller version of himself, with no other big, major changes. His hair was the same style and length, the tattoos were still there, looking very weird with his small frame. The only difference was that his face looked younger, and what little muscles he’d had were completely gone.

It shouldn’t surprise him, really. V, as himself, didn’t have a childhood. Technically he wasn’t more than a year old, approaching two. He had glimpses of Vergil’s time as a kid, as a teenager, but that was in the weird middle of being both him and not him that gave Nero a headache if he tried thinking about it for too long.

Point was, V didn’t really have an earlier time where he looked different without being another person. Nero wasn’t sure what that made him feel, but it wasn’t entirely nice, like an uncomfortable, heavy itch in his gut.

The sudden kinda depressive thought-process does help to make him calm down. V seems to sense the sudden mood shift, pausing before settling down on Nero’s lap. “Nero?”

Nero huffs, brushing away his hair again before oh so carefully grasping hold of V, like he was holding a porcelain doll with hands that didn’t know their strength. “I’m fine, don’t worry.”

V would have the _best_ fucking first birthday ever, he decided. With a cake that wasn’t too sweet or heavy in taste, with candles on it. Or maybe there should only be one? Would that be funny or depressing?

A sudden commotion from the other couch makes them jump.

“Ow!!” Dante yelps, followed by the sound of feet hitting the floor and the tiny shape of Vergil darting away. Dante is holding his hand, a pained tear in his eye. “He bit me!”

Nero stares, then looks over at Vergil, now over by the stairs and looking ready to bolt again at the tiniest move.

“Bit?” Is all Nero can manage.

“I believe,” V says, expression blank. “That was a common tactic in the kid squabbles between the Sparda twins.”

“Sometimes, old tactics are necessary,” is all Vergil says, as if he hadn’t just resorted to chomping on his brother to escape his grasp.

Dante seems to take the move as a challenge, standing up and cracking his neck. It’s weird seeing him so much looser, so… smaller.

“Well, if you’re putting it that way…” He looks up, a grin that seems more fit in a battle against demons than in a sibling fight. “Guess this calls for the good ole game of Sparda tag.”

Nero is confused while Vergil tenses up. Then he bolts off, Dante running after him with a yell, followed by more muffled shouting and arguing.

Nero blinks. “Do I want to ask?”

V pats his shoulder reassuringly. “It’s just an old game, whoever loses has to do what the winner says.”

Nero glances down. He hears pans clatter to the floor in the kitchen. “And what do you need to do to win?”

“Immobilise the other.” V looks up at him. “A winner has rarely been decided before the game was interrupted.”

“Figures.” Dante and Vergil would probably wreck the place before a winner was declared, no matter the age. But with how one was currently in the body of an eight-year-old, the odds were very stacked in one’s favour.

“Man, I hope this effect fades soon,” Nero sighs out, resting his chin on V’s head. “Don’t think I can take another round of Nico’s teasing.”

V chuckles under him. “It shouldn’t last longer than twenty-four hours.”

Nero only groans loudly. “Seriously? I gotta wait that long? Cause, no offense, the thought of kissing you when you’re like this isn’t very tempting.”

V snorts, the sound still more adorable than it had any right to be. He leans back to look Nero in the eye, smiling in amusement. “None taken. Guess we’ll just have to make up for it when we’re back to normal.”

Nero smirks, and just to be a prick, ruffles V’s hair again, much to his displeasure. “Hell yeah.”

V frowns, the gesture almost looking like a pout, as he tries to smooth out his hair. “I quite look forward to when you’ll quit doing that.”

Nero snickers. Yeah, he can’t quite imagine doing that to normal, adult-sized V. Pint-sized V though? Fair game, no doubt.

“Your familiars doing alright?” he asks, changing the subject. Last he had seen of them had been when Griffin had literally dropped a tiny V right onto him, then proceeded to laugh when Nero had decided V would not be walking around barefoot and trailing behind with enemies around. V’s annoyed look when Griffin had commented on how he had turned into an actual lady this time had been kind of amusing though.

V nods. “They’re tired, not quite able to materialise. With enough effort they could, but since this won’t last we won’t bother.”

Another clatter, this time from upstairs, made them both look up. Vergil’s screeching and Dante’s laughter filled the shop.

Nero raises a brow. “Should we check on them?”

“I believe they’re doing some sort of bonding, so perhaps it’s best not to interrupt.”

Nero would have given him a disbelieving look if he didn’t know fighting was how Dante and Vergil actually bonded. Banter or sword-swinging, it didn’t matter.

“Alright then.” Nero shifts his grip on V before standing up, the other’s hands tightening their grip. “Wanna sit this out in the reading room? You can read if you want, but frankly, I want a damn nap.”

“Reading sounds nice,” V replies, eyes shifting between Nero and the moving ground. “Do you have to carry me? I can walk.”

“Yeah, but your legs are so short I’d leave you behind in no time.” Nero then smiles cheekily. “Besides, I like carrying you.”

V flushes. He shifts as best can before settling down and hiding his warm face in Nero’s neck. “Fine then.”

Nero smiles, entering the room. He kicked the door shut behind them, most of the sound from outside getting muted.

Dozing through this incident with hopefully no other teasing or desperately trying to avoid people while carrying V around, with his tattoos and lack of proper clothes, sounded way too appealing. Dante and Vergil hadn’t helped, so they could handle themselves for the rest of the day.

* * *


End file.
